Popular Articles

The American Dream: An Illusion Or Reality For Latino Immigrants, Jessica L. Del Cid

Senior Honors Theses

Many Latinos from Mexico, Central America, and South America have made the decision to immigrate to the United States in recent years—whether legally or illegally. In the literature, stories of immigration and hopes for the American Dream proliferated; however, varying degrees of racism and anti-immigration sentiment were also revealed. Interviews of first-generation Latino immigrants and American citizens that were both attendees of a local Hispanic church in southcentral Virginia showed that Latino immigrants had hopes of achieving what they believed to be the American Dream, while realizing they had a long journey ahead. American citizens were more certain of ...

Robin Hood Or Villain: The Social Constructions Of Pablo Escobar, Jenna Bowley

Honors College

Pablo Escobar was a Colombian drug lord and leader of the Medellin Cartel which at one point controlled as much as 80% of the international cocaine trade. He is famous for waging war against the Colombian government in his campaign to outlaw extradition of criminals to the United State and ordering the assassination of countless individuals, including police officers, journalists, and high ranking officials and politicians. He is also well known for investing large sums of his fortune in charitable public works, including the construction of schools, sports fields and housing developments for the urban poor. While U.S. and ...

Artl@s Bulletin

This article focuses on a community of Latin American artists living in New York and the influence of regionalism and politics in their identification as a group, taking up the case of the Contrabienal, an art book published in 1971 as a call to boycott the XI São Paulo Biennial in protest of censorship and torture in dictatorial Brazil. The book was aesthetically eclectic and included artists from different generations. Still, its organizers were all part of the strong shift towards Conceptualism then taking place. In light of the current revision of the Latin American Conceptualism canon, this article analyzes ...

This study researches the differences in pedagogical needs between learners of Spanish as a Foreign Language (FL learners) and learners of Spanish as a Heritage Language (HL learners) at the university level. By using the UNL Modern Languages and Literatures Department as an illustrative case and based on an analysis of the Heritage Language student profile in the context of the United States, this study seeks to explore arguments in favor of providing training for university-level instructors of Spanish that responds to the specific pedagogical needs of Heritage Language Learners.

Abolitionist literature published in Latin America in the 19th century has received considerable critical attention, much of it focused on the reader’s compassionate response to the alienated slave, such as Sab. However, little known works sometimes end with the slave’s nonviolent rebellion being rewarded. For example, in the short story “La Sibila de los Andes” (1840) by Fermín Toro the fugitive slave survives as a free woman. In the novel Florencio Conde (1875) by José María Samper, the slave negotiates with the master to obtain his freedom and eventually becomes wealthy. These works promote the abolitionist cause because ...

All Articles in Latin American Languages and Societies

Introduction: Highways Of The South, Daniel R. Quiles

Artl@s Bulletin

This introduction serves as a brief overview of this guest-edited issue of Artl@s Bulletin, which is dedicated to international networks in modern and contemporary Latin American art. Following a brief synopsis of the history of the field’s methodologies related to circulation, the articles that appear in this issue are summarized and compared. The author argues that a network- or circulation-based focus invariably incorporates heterogenous, even oppositional criteria.

Artl@s Bulletin

This article focuses on a community of Latin American artists living in New York and the influence of regionalism and politics in their identification as a group, taking up the case of the Contrabienal, an art book published in 1971 as a call to boycott the XI São Paulo Biennial in protest of censorship and torture in dictatorial Brazil. The book was aesthetically eclectic and included artists from different generations. Still, its organizers were all part of the strong shift towards Conceptualism then taking place. In light of the current revision of the Latin American Conceptualism canon, this article analyzes ...

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full text paper (click Additional Files below) for Folklife Archives Project 800. This collection features a term paper about the folklore traditions of the Colegio Refous Elementary School in Cota, Columbia. The project was completed by Western Kentucky University student Ryan Osborne for credit in an “Introduction to Folk Studies” class.

The Coca Plant And Bolivian Identity, Matthew G. Russo

International ResearchScape Journal

ABSTRACT

The political battle rages between the U.S. government, the U.N. and the Bolivian President, Evo Morales, about his efforts to protect, legalize and preserve the symbol of the Andean indigenous identity: the coca plant. The human rights of indigenous populations are being violated by culturally insensitive governments in compliance with U.S. and U.N. law. The questions posed are: Is coca cocaine? What are the economic benefits of the production of coca and who benefits? What is the relationship between coca and Bolivian identity? What would be the impact in the global community if coca is ...

The Welfare Crisis Of Central America, David Stoesz

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The crisis of Central America, fundamentally due to social injustice, is exacerbated as the Reagan administration seeks a "military polution" to political problems of the region. A humane approach to alleviating the devastating poverty of Central America necessitates reconciling two strategies of national development: a techno-economic strategy and a sociopolitical strategy. Both strategies leave important issues unresolved. The prospect of improving conditions for the people of Central America-diminishes as the region is increasingly militarized.

Latino Catholicism And Indigenous Heritage As A Subfield Of Latino Studies: A Critical Evaluation Of New Approaches, Elizabeth C. Martinez Ph.D.

Cultural Encounters, Conflicts, and Resolutions

Posed through critical theory on "third-space," and a brief history of Latin American Studies, this article pursues analysis of recent interdisciplinary scholarship in English, to delineate the emergence of a new subfield in Latina/o Catholicism, connected to greater understanding of Indigenous legacy. The article also demonstrates the path of study toward creation of a themed academic issue.

Dissidences

This article examines the ways in which writings by both Enrique Lihn and Roberto Bolaño enter into dialogue with the Chilean critical icon José Miguel Ibáñez Langlois. I argue that Lihn’s essay Sobre el antiestructuralismo de José Miguel Ibáñez Langlois (1983) and Bolaño’s novel Nocturno de Chile (2000) attempt to subvert the cultural dominance of Ibáñez Langlois through complex representations and interpretations of his theoretical relationship to language and silence. Keeping in mind Bolaño’s own admiration of Lihn, this article seeks to consider the ways in which Lihn’s polemic with Ibáñez Langlois during Pinochet's dictatorship ...

Is Catalan Separatism A Progressive Cause?, Edgar Illas

Dissidences

This paper argues that the Left has not developed a theory for singular events such as Catalan separatism. Instead of conceiving it as a mere nationalist construct and rejecting it on behalf of federalism or universalism, I propose to focus on the transformative energies of this political and cultural movement. After tracing the historical links between separatism and radical leftist politics, my paper aims to extract three lessons from the project to build a new Catalan state: first, the possibility of formulating a right to vote based on residence and not on citizenship; second, the project to devise a non-culturalist ...

Vindicating The Femme Fatale In Manuel Antín’S 'Circe', Daria Cohen

Dissidences

Vindicating the Femme Fatale in Manuel Antín’s Circe

The present article analyzes a classic Argentine film noir, Circe, to explore its representation of a powerful, autonomous female protagonist ahead of the historical moment of 1964. The director Manuel Antín creates a film adaptation that departs from the source text by Julio Cortázar by focalizing the motivations and actions of a female character that flouts societal expectations and mores. The article is theoretically grounded in feminist, subjectivity and film adaptation theory. The article contributes to the fields of Latin American Studies, Global Film and Media Studies, Argentine Cultural and Literary ...

Creating A Space For Love And Revolution: The Poetry Of Otto René Castillo, Kerri A. Muñoz

Dissidences

In the poetry of Otto René Castillo, the theme of community is resounding and it manifests itself in the Socialist Revolution. This paper studies how Castillo conveyed his vision of said Revolution, that is to say, of how Guatemala fit into his vision of a new worldwide order. The study begins by placing Castillo’s poetry in its artistic context and outlining his agenda that advocated that words be supported by actions. Next, a brief biography demonstrates how the poet-revolutionary lived out his agenda by committing himself to the military struggles of the Revolution. Then starts the literary analysis of ...

This paper examines how the sublime aesthetic combines with science fiction tropes to articulate estrangement and dislocation in Hugo Santiago’s film Invasión (Argentina, 1969). The dystopian tones, alienating landscape and unstoppable invaders featured in the film resonate with Burke’s negative sublime, while a Kantian approach to Invasión provides grounds for discussion of the film’s cognitive effect on the viewer. A close examination of the cinematic text reveals the manner in which its dystopian tropes cross over into the horror genre to comment on politics and history, while also highlighting the limits of representation.

Charles Darwin's theory of biological evolution of species was accepted or rejected by Mexican scientists, including Gabino Barreda, representative of Comte's philosophy. It was also included by Justo Sierra in a history book for the Escuela Nacional Preparatoria, a decision which raised a lot of criticism from conservative groups. It is also discussed the implications of social Darwinism in the early Twentieth Century Mexico. The document we offer is a satire published in those years, which resembles the tone of Swift's Gulliver Travels.